


Place Your Bets (Round Two)

by sheroars



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Angst?, Attachment, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Request Game, Requests Re-opened, The Writer is Dying of Boredom, The Writer is too Attached to these Characters, mental health
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-09 16:38:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 9,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5547587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheroars/pseuds/sheroars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I just remembered how fun it was to take requests on "Place Your Bets" so if you have little thoughts about Broadchurch buzzing around I'm begging for something (and absolutely anything) to write and get my creativity flowing again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Porch Swing

The porch swing outside of the cottage Ellie started renting saw a lot of action. 

The first time Alec came to visit she was sitting there with a sickly Fred in the crook of her arm.  The place was tiny but good, practically on the beach of few miles due north.  The deck was a bigger living room for nice days.  

They drank wine in silence there for awhile.

 

_"Have you been working?"_

_"Odd things here and there.  You?"_

_"Same"_

_"Good."_   

 

After the first winter there she bought a low table to double as a footrest and some cushions for the seat.  She sat out there with an iPad and designed the first business cards.  

 

_"Private Investigative Services?"_

_"What else would you call it?  Private Eyes sounded too escort-y."_

_"Are you going to keep the Miller name?"_

_"I dunno yet.  Should I?"_   

 

They rarely saw clients in her home but a word of mouth business like their's was hardly capable of setting solid ground rules without secular office space.  A lot of distraught men and women cried on the porch swing.  Not so good memories start in those seats.  Some good ones too though.      

Alec has pictures of the Millers on that porch swing.  It was Fred's third birthday and the three of them cobbled together a proper party for him.  His little eyes were locked on the freshly lit candles of his blue cake.  Alec whistled to gain his attention and clicked the shutter on the camera as Ellie finally prodded a smile out of Tom.  

 

 _"Awe, that's lovely Hardy.  Now suspend your reaction for three minutes, I want one of you too."_     

 

She'll swear up and down that was the first time she saw a proper smile on his face.  They eventually had proper desks.  He framed those.    

Tom had his first kiss on that swing though he'll swear just as vehemently that it was his third or fourth of twentieth.  Her name was Calista and she was in the grade above him at his new school.  

 

_"My boy is a man now."_

_"Shove off mum."_

_"My job has done.  He's gonna settle down.  Grow a beard.  Have you gotten THE talk yet or did I just bullshit you?"_

_"MUM."_

_"Tom she's gorgeous, you can't afford to mess this up."_

_"Leave him alone Ellie."_

 

Ellie teased him about taking dates off her porch but almost every Friday there was a small cluster of young teens hanging about arguing about what film to catch at the cinema.  She didn't seem to mind really.  

Tom and Calista caught Alec and Ellie in a bind on the porch swing late that summer, returning from a private walk about the woods.  There would be no more teasing about first kisses as both sides acquired devastating ammunition.    

 

_"We eat there sometimes you know."_

_"You've got 20 minutes till curfew young man."_


	2. Uh Oh

Fuck. 

Fuck. 

Fuck.  

Being a private detective certainly came with risks but this was the first time in six months of free lance work Alec thought his pace maker might actually give up entirely.  

Fuck.  

Ellie was three steps ahead of him in the thickening crowd of this god-forsaken London music festival on the banks of the Thames.  The suspect they were tailing had just turned on his heal, pushing his way back towards them.  She was too damn short to see the change, head ducked into the freezing wind.  Causing a scene would blow it.  Opening his mouth would blow it despite the noise.  

Greg Taftton was a dangerous man.  

Alec made a split second decision that would probably earn him at least one left hook but the risk analysis told him it might be better than facing off with Tafton here.  He had a good foot in height on him, at least one gun, and probably a hundred fifty pounds.  

Ellie gave a soft yelp as his hand seized the belt of her new black trench coat and pulled her two steps to the side, a surprisingly graceful turn on his part had her pinned to the railing of the embankment, his back to Taftton.  He hoped she read something off his face as he pressed his mouth to her temple and turned her face into his shoulder with one hand, his other arm cinched around her back.  

She pinched his rib hard enough to hurt before relaxing abruptly, realization dawning.  Her hands fisted in his coat.  

His heart finally stopped its relentless pounding and the bass guitars from the concert were ringing in his ears.  People were brushing by, taking no notice.    

Shit.  

After a minute Ellie pushed on her toes and peaked over his shoulder, he loosened his grip to allow her the room for it.  She sank back onto her heals abruptly and grabbed his collar.  It took him another full minute to realize she was kissing him.  Far be it from Alec Hardy to not finish the act.  She hummed and held on to him more tightly as he deepened the kiss, clumsily and a bit too fast.  She certainly didn't seem to mind.  Once his brain came back on line he dropped a wet kiss under her ear.  Somebody whistled at them.  Ellie shivered before taking a glance around them.  

"He's gone..."  She cleared her throat, looking at him with red cheeks as he pulled his head up.  

Fuck.  

Fuck.  

Fuck.  

"Did you get that out of a bloody movie?"  Suddenly she was trying to smile and his stomach was dropping.  He kissed her forehead before he could stop himself, silently chanting at himself not to blow it. 

"If my memory is correct I was content for miming that bit."  

"Hardy if you didn't commit I would have had to drag up both into the Thames..."  So help him God she was flirting back.  He swallowed the urge to jump into the Thames anyway.  "C'mon...colder than a witch's tit out here.  And if you tell anyone about this..."  She couldn't muster a proper threat through her eruption of laughter, she covered her face with her hands.  "Christ Hardy- you are so thick."     

It was entirely possible he was going to fall in love with her now.  

"I don't suppose you saw where he went."  He withdrew his hands and rubbed some feeling into his fingers.  He was grinning too now.     

"We can still talk to his bookie I think.  He nice, old, and feeble compared to Tatfton the Ogre."

"Brilliant you are."  She crossed her arms and pressed into his side as the walked, braced against the cold and the crowds of wildly dressed people.  He anchored an arm around her waist in an effort to keep track of her.  It didn't fall away till they were getting in a cab several blocks away.    

      

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompts prompts prompts


	3. Just a Bit Turned Around Really

Ellie must have dozed off at some point around sunset because the next thing she knew Alec was swearing up a storm beside her and it was pitch black outside.  A dull headache thrummed under her temples.  He grunted out an apology when he noticed he had woken her.  She rubbed her eyes until she regained focus and found him dumb-foundedly turning a map every which way.  

"Where are we?"  

"Dunno."  

"That's nice."  She snickered.  The headlights were haloing a creek bed.  They were surrounded by fields on three sides.  There was a dirt road behind them that dead ended in their current situation.  She got out to stretch and turn a circle around the car.  The stars were aggressively bright.  The moon was full.  Not a tinge of city lights stained the reaches of what she could see.  No houses.  No farms.  They were supposed to have reached Little Waverley by midnight.  It was well near two in the morning now.  No cell service of course.       

Alec got out sheepishly.  

"I thought it would be faster to cut through the Waverley camping grounds."  

"That place is huge and only has like one ranger station.  This is how a lot of bad horror movies start you know."  He shrugged and threw his hands up.  "-and you just let me sleep for like seven hours while you turned us in how many circles?"  He just turned more red.  She laughed properly this time.  "Idiot."  She popped open the book of the car and came out with an arm load of two or three quilts.  

"What are you doing?" His embarrassment was quickly covered with exasperation.  

"You've been awake for roughly 72 hours.  I'm sure as hell not driving in the dark without a functioning GPS or cell phone.  We've got like four-ish hours till sunrise..."  

"So just sleep in the car?"  

"Tragic, I know.  Didn't your camping ever get rained out as a child?"

"No."  

"Ah that's right, you never were a child."  He briefly cracked a smile.  He shed his suit jacket and threw it on the floor of the car.  Ellie reclined the passenger side seat all the way down and used her orange jacket as a pillow, throwing a blanket in his lap as he turned the car off and followed her example.  

"Bit weird."  He parroted her own words from almost half a year ago.    

"Oh shut up." She back handed his arm.  He laughed hoarsely, exhaustion definitely seeping into him now.  They'd been working a relentlessly complicating cold case.  An rather large Durham family had folded in on itself, fresh feuding riled up by one woman's need to solve the ten year old disappearance of a priceless heirloom.  They'd been driving around the whole of England for ages it seemed.  They eventually tracked down the allegedly priceless china doll to a fourth cousin's antique in bloody Lincolnshire who had a penchant for other stolen goods as well.  Alec had almost dropped the doll twice and once more out of spite.  All the color had left his face when they got paid though, nearly five times more than the bottom line for cases with that much travel expenditure.  They were also getting a nod from the Lincolnshire police force for helping nail down a grand larceny charge on the antique dealer.    

Alec's fingers slipped over Ellie's knee and squeezed gently...apologetically.  The windows were cracked open and the creek sounds were downright soothing.    

"Careful Hardy."  

"Hmmm?"  

"One might think you were trying to be romantic."  

"I thought being alone in the woods with me was a horror movie a minute ago."  

"Cross-over genera film."  

"Fun for the whole family."  They smiled stupidly and slept until dawn.  

Ellie had barely gotten a yawn out or opened her eyes when Alec was leaning over to kiss her forehead.  

"You have every right to be cross."  

"What for?"  She felt herself smiling stupidly.  Alec had been kissing her goodnight and good morning for about a month now.  Things were happening.  Achingly slowly...but they were happening.  Alec kissed her full on the mouth and kept his forehead on hers before showing her his iPhone.  

Not only did he have service, but the map app showed they were five minutes drive to the road they needed and about an hour and half from home.  

"Fucking Christ."  She buried her face in her blanket and burst into laughter.  Alec couldn't breathe he was laughing so hard.  Ellie pulled herself together first,  "Go on then.  I'm gonna drive.  Find someplace with coffee and breakfast before I pass out.  I can't remember the last time we ate real food."  

"Got it."  They switched seats and got on the correct roads.  It took two cups of coffee to realize she was wearing his jacket in the diner they had stumbled into for food.  He didn't seem to mind.                 

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having so much fun with these. Keep the ideas coming!


	4. Do it Again

Of course he got bloody kidnapped twenty four hours after accidentally letting her know he wanted her.  

Wanker.  

He had fumblingly left her house after the incident, dropping a brief kiss on her cheek, his own face flaming and blushing too hard to muster anything else.  She couldn't sleep.  She couldn't eat.  She was smiling too much and acting far too nice, spiking the suspicion of Tom.  She had a full twenty four hours of elated heart stopping anticipation.  However her heart stopped Monday morning for all the wrong reasons.  

He didn't meet her for breakfast per their normal routine.  They sat in a coffee shop on the high street of the new little town she settled in.  They sorted through emails together and chose cases.  Ellie was on the verge of tears for personal reasons of course.  He didn't answer his phone either.  

She mustered the courage to drive to his flat that evening to apologize for whatever it was that got him riled up.  Christ.  She couldn't even go the weekend and a day without talking to him.  His new car was in the driveway and all the lights were on.  From what she could see through the windows there was shit all over the floors.  

She drove to the police station.  

A CCTV camera caught him walking away from his house, head bent, arm linked with the stereotypically hooded figure of about the same height and build.  There was probably a gun shoved in his rib cage.  They got into a car a few blocks away.  

The local police force knew them both from their private investigation services.  They didn't hate them yet.  They went to work immediately.  Ellie shut down completely.  Tom had to call Daisy.  She immediately took a train down.  The two of them minded Fred and reminded her to eat and change clothes for the next six days or so.  She lived on the couch for 20 or so hours a day and cooked meals for the kids in silence.  Daisy woke her up at 3 am on the seventh day in a panicky rush.  

They had found him.

Well...he had found them first.  He pulled into the police station with two men handcuffed to two 25 pound free weights in the backseat before passing out cold in the lobby from dehydration.  By the time they got to him he was pacing his hospital room in worn out old clothes with a black eye, pistol whip stains, a broken wrist, and a violently inflamed temper.  

He lifted Daisy off her feet in a one armed hugged before ending it rather abruptly, seizing Ellie's neck with his good hand, and snogging her square on the mouth.  

"Oh shit..."  Tom dragged Daisy, who had immediately began laughing her arse off despite her initial confusion, and the still half asleep Fred out of the room.  He kept kissing her until her mouth hurt and she couldn't breathe or manage her tears anymore.  

"Alec.  Fuck."  

"McIntire brothers.  I jailed their dad for life in Glasgow.  He died in a prison fight or something.  I haven't seen them since they were fifteen."  He tried explaining it all with his hands running up and down her back and sides anxiously.  The bloody idiots didn't know what they had gotten into trying to snatch his grumpy arse.     

"You're okay?  You're okay, Christ." Her head was spinning.  He thumbed her cheek and stilled her bottom lip with his own.  Her arms finally came up around his  neck to hold him back.  Someone tapped on the door and he released her mouth, kissed her forehead, and called the kids back in.  He embraced Daisy with an arm still around Ellie's waist.  

Ellie signed the discharge paper work.  Daisy drove and Tom sat up front.  They squished in the back with Fred's car seat.  She clung to his hand like a limpet and he pressed his mouth to her temple every few minutes, her blood was still racing with adrenaline and a myriad of new feelings.  He was holding her hand tightly and stroking her fingers.  The kids collapsed back into bed.  Alec took an hour long shower before finding Ellie pouring whiskey into coffee in the kitchen.  He pinned her to the fridge and kissed her much more gently than he had in the hospital.  

"Hi."

"Hullo."  His hair was damp and stuck to her forehead now and he looked entirely worse for wear.  Exhausted and battered.  "I'm going to tell you something.  The meds wear off around noon tomorrow.  I'm going to tell it to you again then and then I'm going to sleep for a week straight."  

"Yah?"  

"Yah."  He pressed several soft open mouth kisses down her throat, hands slipping around the small of her back and pressing her firmly against his body.  She shuddered.  It was all happening so quickly.  "I want this.  I want you.  I want a new life with you.  You are brilliant.  You are beautiful.  All I have to worry about in this life anymore is maintaining my bloody pace maker, making amends with my daughter, seeing your boys getting safely through school, the fucking leak in your attic, and you."  

"Oh my God," She practically saw his life flash before his eyes.  He fell asleep in her bed shortly after Ellie noticed him swaying on his feet.  At noon he woke up swearing at his own headache and holding his wrist to his chest.  He grit his teeth and repeated the gist of his impassioned speech the night before, refusing medication as he sat up and forgetting the bit about the leak in the attic.  

"Take the bloody pills before you work yourself up."  His eyes were wide.  He touched her face again and a thrill went up her spine.    

"No, no.  Listen to me.  You need to know I'm just as serious without them.  I'm bloody high as a kite on those pills."  She could only describe the sensations of kissing him as overwhelming.  He pressed her into the bed as if he had a point to prove.  He pressed his face into her neck and breathed deeply, kissing over the purple hickie he made earlier.  She felt incandescent and giggly and utterly rapturous.        

"Point bloody taken.  Jesus, Hardy." He smirked into her skin.  Her breathing matched his.  The fucking week finally slowed to a stop.  The ringing in her ears ceased.  He kissed her even more slowly, like the first kiss probably should have gone.  They were probably experts at going about things backwards now.  She hitched a leg around his calf and sighed, beginning to gone boneless beneath him.  He pulled away slowly with a wince.  

"Fuck.  Uncle.  Need the pain killers.  Lots of em."  

"Shit, almost forgot.  Sorry." He focused on his breathing again, lying on his back beside her.  "That was almost normal romance."  

"I can... do better..." He smirked, clearing his throat.  "If you stick around."  

"You're bonkers if you think I'm not gonna see this through you stupid wanker.  If this much shit happened now the rest is probably gonna feel like a god-damned cake walk."  

"I don't think we could possibly set the bar any lower."  He took her hand and kissed her knuckles before going back to sleeping off the week.  Daisy came in and insisted Ellie do the same while she tended to her father.  Ellie slipped into Fred's room and crawled into his little big-boy bed with him.  He huffed in his sleep and curled up under her chin.  With the whole house at peace, mouth burning, and her heart beating a bit quicker, she finally slept.                                           


	5. What are you doing New Years Eve?

Ellie couldn't remember the if she'd ever had or been to a proper New Year's party growing up.  That was always Lucy's thing.  She preferred to sit in with a girlfriend or two and play cards or marathon movies or something.  She didn't regret the ones spent alone either with a bottle of wine.  She was just getting to the point post-childbirth where she could stay up well past midnight.      

This eve was bound to be special.  

Alec was sitting in the sand with her, off and away from the bonfire under the Broadchurch cliffs.  Daisy, Chloe, Tom, and Fred were skittering about making last minute s'mores and getting out Roman Candles for the countdown.  Beth, Mark, Ollie, and Lucy were passing out plastic flutes of champagne to the various other party guests.  

It was colder outside the circle of the bonfire but quieter.  They had a blanket spread over both their laps.  Alec was running a hand up and down her back leisurely and sipping coffee from a beat up thermos.    

"Any resolutions this year Hardy?"  He smirked and looked out at the turning tide.  

"I'm gonna lose thirty pounds maybe.  Start drinking a liter of water every day..." He was quoting her from an earlier set of ice breaker conversations with the other party goers.  

"Oh shut up.  You've been taking better care of yourself though."

"I'm not going to jog with you Miller."  

"I'm not going to bloody jog."  He cracked a grin.  

"No resolutions then?"  She shrugged.  

"Hopefully 2016 will be much more kind."  

"Agreed."  Someone started one of their cars back on the street and cranked their radio.  

"Bloody hell,"

"Shit."  Alec and Ellie swore at the same time.  The beach full of people spouted similar harassment before laughing, a few pairing off to dance.  

 

_Maybe it's much to earlier in the game...oooh but I thought I'd ask you just the same._

_What are you doing New Years Eve?_    

 

"I've always hated this song.  It sounds too fucking sad."  Ellie wrinkled her nose.  Mark stood up next to the bonfire, baby girl in one arm and phone in his other hand.   

"10...9...8..."  

"Good riddance."  Alec shook his head and looked at Ellie, arm tightening around her waist.  

"7...6...5..." 

"M'not kissing you."  He rolled his eyes and settled for forehead leaning against his temple.  She squeezed the fingers drumming on her hip.     

"4...3...2...1..."  

A shit storm of roman candles and fire crackers lit up the sky and deafened everyone in the vicinity.  People on the high street spilled out of pubs and restaurants whooping and hollering.  

"Thank you for staying."  She mumbled under the din.  In Broadchurch.  With her.  In the police station.  A boss (ish).  A friend.  He lifted her chin and kissed her cheek.

 

_Oooh but in case I stand one little chance, here comes in the jackpot question in advance._

_What are you doing New Year's Eve?_       


	6. Oops

"He couldn't possibly have gotten off work, left Dorset, dumped the gun, and then make it back before dinner Hardy.  There's not enough time."  Ellie huffed, sinking further into the couch in his new office, dead eyeing the time line he had taped up all over the wall adjacent.  

"Unless he's lying."  

"We have time cards and witnesses putting him at working a full day.  The wife and four children would have to be lying."  

"Stranger things have happened."  He scrubbed a hand over his face and joined her on the sofa.  

"I still think the landlady did it."  She crossed her arms grumpily.    

"In the library with the wrench?"  She rolled her eyes.    

"Fuck off." He cracked a wry grin.  

"Did the alibi on the sister check out?"  

"Absolutely.  She was running a seminar in London Friday morning through Sunday night-  fifty school children, thirty teachers, dozen or so parents and staff and such..."  

"Damn."  Alec flipped through the notes.  They were utterly stuck.  

"Wait, wait, wait.  The autopsy report gave us a larger window right?"

"Yah."  

"What if Kendra Davis wasn't killed until the following night?"  Alec leapt up, rearranging the suspects and the timeline.  Ellie stood up to correct one of his moves.  One alibi was shattered completely.  The Landlady's.  

"Miller...you're bloody brilliant."  She was grinning when he grabbed her face, kissed her fiercely, and strolled out into the bullpen barking orders and calling out officers for a pickup.  

Ellie remained in the office trying to figure out what the fuck just happened for a full five minutes more.  

"That son of a bitch."  

It took the remainder of the day to track down the suspect, wrangle a confession (bless the little feeble thing for finally surrendering), and begin booking. Alec had been steadfastly avoiding eye contact with Ellie through it all, including the interrogation, knowing full well he was in deep shit.  He slipped back into his office while she briefed the solicitors and such and finally clocked out for the day.  It was eight thirty.  The station was slowly emptying out.  He was staring good and hard at his computer monitor as she entered, probably at the blinking cursor at the top of his incomplete paperwork.  He didn't dare move as she made her way around his desk and perched on the edge.  

"What is the point of you Alec Hardy?"  Perhaps for the first time in their history she found him utterly speechless.  He kept blinking, probably thinking about sexual assault charges.  "Most blokes at least buy me a drink first.  Throw in a chat-up line."

"I apologize.  It won't happen again."  

"I'm going to take the opportunity to tell you something.  It'll probably make it quite a bit worse, but I'm tired of being cowardly about it."  She spiked his attention finally, he looked her up and down suspiciously.  She sucked in a breath and shook her head a moment.  "I didn't hate that you did that.  I care about you a great deal...I'll see you tomorrow."  

"Ellie,"  Before she even budged to leave, he was on his feet and his hands were sliding around her neck.  She got a chance to kiss him back this time despite the initial, heart-stopping shock of it.  His warmth was intoxicating.  He pulled away to gape at her, his thumbs moving over her jaw.  She smiled instead, dropping eye contact and biting her lip.  

"Breakfast on you tomorrow yah?" She kissed him swiftly before slipping out of his grasp and towards the door.  

"Text me when you get home..." He blurted out, sitting down in his chair and trying to figure out what the fuck just happened for a full five minutes more.  

Maybe that's how good things begin.            


	7. Oops (Part 2)

After admitting that she cared about Alec Hardy, it took a solid six or seven months to stop denying that she was bloody falling in love with him.

The two of them were fairly inseparable since the onset of this change in their relationship.  She wasn't entirely sure what to expect but the amount of affection that came with kind-of-sort-of dating him was overwhelming.  They never talked in depth about it, there never seemed to be a need for it.  They just accepted the additions to their partnership.  Daisy spent a lot more long weekends and holidays with all of them.  She and Ellie got along a bit too well for Alec's liking sometimes.  

He was over every other night it seemed, helping make dinner or kicking a football around with Fred.  He went to Tom's football matches with her.  She couldn't get away with dropped eye contact any more.  He had no problem lifting her chin and leaning in a bit to maintain the attention.  Every time he kissed her she wondered where he could have been hiding all this time.  The Friday before Easter weekend a suspect broke her wrist and she thought he was actually going to kill a man in front of her own two eyes.  She had never seen him so angry he went silent.  

He was dead silent in the corner of the A&E room while the doctor went over the x-rays.  He kept his arms crossed and his eyes on the ground when they set her cast and prescribed her pain killers.  He didn't look up till she said his name and asked if he was okay.  He pulled her into a standing position and smothered her in an embrace.  

"M'sorry Ellie,"  

"Shut up.  I'm okay."  He tucked hair behind her ears and kissed her firmly.  He stayed the weekend with them, making sure she didn't strain her arm any more than necessary.  He watched movies with the boys with his arm around her.  Easter Sunday came around and he drove them to church, made lunch, and started smiling again.  When he made love to her that night, generous as ever, she thought she might explode.  He was a permanent fixture in her life now.  He was everything.  She thought she just might tell him right then and there when he bent over her on an elbow, pressed his lips to her shoulder, and mumbled,

"I love you so much Ellie Miller."  Of course she couldn't just bloody say it back now.  

"Since when?"  He laughed uneasily and shook his head.  

"Dunno.  But when that idiot broke your wrist and you managed to snap his nose before I could even blink...guess I figured it out."  

"You're so romantic."  She teased.  "But in all honesty I'm glad you said it first.  I thought I was gonna make an idiot of myself."  He groaned and fell on his back, scrubbing at his face.  

"Is that what you've felt all this time?"

"Some of it."  She tugged on his hand till he was kissing her again, each one deeper, longer, and wetter than the last.  She had to turn her head to the side to breathe so he trailed suckling kisses down her neck instead.  She bit her lip and her hips arched shallowly.  He plucked at the elastic of the knickers she had just put back on.  "I love you though.  More than I should.  More than I've loved anyone."  

"Good."  

"Good?"  A laugh bubbled up that turned into a fast exhalation, "Fuck...Alec..."  

After Easter he never hesitated to remind her how he felt.  

 


	8. Maybe Baby

Ellie regretted taking this case from the onset but they could hardly afford to be picky living off private investigations.  It was still pretty warm, tagging an older gentleman accused of running a pimping circle among elite London.  A rather wealthy old money couple had hired them out and got them damn everything they needed, including entrance to the swankiest hotels, bars, and restaurants she had sure ever seen.  She supposed the real problem was that she and Alec were playing loose undercover personas, dangerous enough as a concept, along with some older detective squads from the Yard.  

The fact that they were playing a bloody husband and wife made it entirely too hard to focus.  Fuck Tess, he was an angel.  

Over the past year or so, Sandbrook and Broadchurch having blown over, they had gotten more comfortable as both partners and friends.  He had left for a brief three months, found shit luck with jobs, and came back wondering if she'd be interested in starting a business.  It took some convincing but then there they were, a highly successful functioning unit.  She wasn't shocked when he held her hand and opened doors and introduced her first and such.  It was the doting.  

It was the arm around her waist keeping her close in the bars and the firmness of his grip keeping her her sealed to his hip.  It was the soft smiling and the soft talking and the compliments in the restaurants.  It was the god-damn shameless flirting in the hotels.  He called her _lovely_ and kissed her hand and called her _baby_ before pressing a chaste kiss to her neck in the middle of small talk with strangers.  She could hardly remember the face of the idiot they were supposed to be spying on, even with an earpiece in for Christ's sake.  They were barely sleeping and when they got the chance to grab naps and showers from about 8 to 3, even alone in their room he was a bleeding movie plot, running his fingers up and down her back when he thought she was sleeping or reminding her to drink water or something.   

The night they finally had solid evidence on the sleeze-ball, they were at a jazz concert in a hotel ballroom.  He actually tried to proposition Alec while he got drinks at the bar, flashing a snapshot of the girl of the old money couple that had hired them.  They had been recognized but lucky for them, he thought they were potential buyers rather than police.  Alec dropped a codeword and the yard moved in.  Sixteen girls were rescued and removed, relatives called in.  Five muscle men were arrested trying to flee.  A two decade old business was snapped up by the roots for the time being.  

Back in their room for one night more, he loosened his knit tie and slumped against the door, exhaustion setting in.  She kicked off the heels that had been eliminating their height difference, cocktails starting to pound out a dull headache in her temples.  He snorted at her sudden drop.  She flipped him off over her shoulder as she slipped into the bathroom to attempt to unpin her hair.  

"Fuckin' hell."  

"Having trouble?"  

"I'm just going to shave my head Hardy, I swear."  He sighed and followed her, helping her untangle a particularly malicious bobby pin.  She sucked in a breath.  "Have you turned a new leaf or do I just need to marry you to get you to be this nice?"  She inwardly winced for her own delivery.  Why did she have to tackle everything with- oh Christ he was smiling.  The pin was free and he was working on the others.   

"I'm nice enough."  She dead eyed him in the mirror and he shrugged, smiling to himself again.  "You were a wonderful wife..."  Damn it.  She turned around and kissed him on the mouth, arms slipping up around his neck.  He was ready, kissing back just as feverishly and pressing her back over the sink in the enthusiasm.

They were too embarrassed to look each other in the eye or kiss again for another four days.                       


	9. Alternate Reality

Jo Miller lives a very simple life these days.  

After the acquittal he jumped around a bit.  Restless.  Depressed.  The expected.  He grew his beard out.  He made a decisive move to London after six or so months, buying in heavily to the anonymity of large city living.  He was homeless for a week.  An old university buddy who knew next to nothing about what happened in Broadchurch hooked him up with an entry level office job at a large real estate firm.  He was essentially a secretary but he didn't have to wear a full suit every day.  

He had a decent flat.  An older gentlemen lived to the left.  A young university student named Elizabeth lived on the right.  He didn't know much about them.  He got up, went to work, headed to the pubs with his two work acquaintances, and home again.  Weekends were for libraries and self deprecation.  He lived an unplugged life now, no computer or cell phone.  Barely any telly.  He slept through most of his free time.  He saw a therapist once or twice but he found his own story too rough to repeat now.  When people pried he just gave the minimum.  Divorce.  Nasty divorce.  

It had been nearly two years since his expulsion from Broadchurch when the routine was broken.  It was a Sunday.  He was on his way to Tescos.  He heard familiar voices in the gap of traffic noises.  He tripped and caught himself on a street corner lamp post, searching frantically for the source.  They were there across the street.  Christ.  

Fred was huge, sitting astride his brother's shoulders and speaking in what must have been complete sentences now.  He was four.  Tom had sprouted up tall and skinny...14?  15?  16?  Shit.  He must have a few inches on Ellie now... Ellie was walking behind them with bloody Alec Hardy and another teenage girl.  Jesus.  She looked good.  Better even.  Jo's heart was hammering and his eyes were tearing up.  He pulled his beanie down and made what had to be an extremely tasteless decision.  He followed them.  

He wasn't entirely stupid.  He kept his distance.  Neither of them had ever seen him with facial hair.  He had lost weight.  They wouldn't recognize him.  Ellie and Hardy were bickering about something.  He only saw them in profile and from the back.  She was wearing a black dress.  He was wearing jeans and a white button down.  His attention was mainly garnered by the boys.  Hardy's presence certainly irked him.  The girl must be his.  The affair ploy in the trial had been contrived bullshit designed to hurt.  The possibility that it...oh...

The group had come to pause at a street corner.  Jo pulled his cell phone to his ear and leaned on a news stand.  Alec was handing Tom a wad of bills as Ellie laid out some rules of some sort.  

"The play starts at 7 but I want you there at 6.30.  You remember how to get there?"

"Down the Thames, over the Thames, down the Thames some more."  Fred giggled out.  Tom high fived him as he put him down, sticking the money in his back pocket.  

"It's the Globe.  Can't miss it, Ellie."  The girl piped up.

"No leaving the festival.  The usual."  Shit. Shit. Shit.  They were splitting up.  Tom and Fred were heading towards some sort of food and music fest down the embankment.  Hardy and Ellie followed a bit before crossing the Thames.  Jo sucked in a breath, watched the boys disappear in a crowd of young people.  Fred had one hand from Tom and one hand from the girl.  Hardy and Ellie were still going back and worth, talking more than he had ever seen.  His arm was around her waist and she was smiling though.  Wow.  They stopped in a few shops and then a pub for lunch, taking a good long while.  

Jo Miller sat dumbly on a bench, lost entirely in thought for hours on end.  Ellie and Hardy left the pub near sunset, just as the girl, Tom, and Fred came off a bridge further up ahead.  They were early.  Jo's chest hurt.  It felt like a dream.  A dream with a monster and he couldn't run.  His legs were lead.  Hardy seemed ignorant of the oncoming children as he bent down a bit, whispering something and dropping a coy kiss behind Ellie's ear, both arms around her waist.  She nearly dropped her shopping bags and released a laugh loud enough for plenty of people to hear.  Whatever they had been chatting about earlier obviously settled. 

He let go of her quick enough to catch Fred, who was on pace to take out their knees.  The boy sat on his hip easily, presenting his mother with a big daisy in a chubby fist.  

"Thank you love."  The girl had a matching daisy in the brim of her new floppy sun hat and a bouquet more peaking out of her H&M shopping bag, she arranged it behind Ellie's ear before wrapping her arms around her waist and saying something Jo couldn't quite make out.  It made Hardy laugh and Tom roll his eyes.  

"C'mon, don't wanna miss _Ado Much About Something or whatever_." Tom went on.  The girl feigned shock and attempted to give him a wet willy.  They led the way on down the Thames smacking at each other and talking loud about something Jo couldn't hear over the ringing in his ears.  Fred had slipped down to the ground, holding tight to Hardy's hand and Ellie's skirt.  

Jo Miller hit Tescos much later than intended.  He bought scant groceries and two six packs of ale.  He called in sick for Monday for the first time and drank well into the early hours of the morning.  He woke up at one in the afternoon on the floor of his kitchen with a dry mouth and sore fists.    

He had gotten used to the physical and mental sensations of his removal.  Replacement however... that was something altogether unexpected.  

 

~

 

Fred was sitting between Tom and Daisy a row in front of Alec and Ellie, asking questions about what was going on a little too loudly.  He liked the old Kenneth Branagh _Much Ado About Nothing_ movie Daisy had on repeat though and the music was fantastic so he was following along a bit.  

Ellie was nursing another beer and giggling along.  She truly always loved this play, since her school and drama days.  Alec was sipping on a water and running a hand up and down her back as she leaned on him more and more.  During intermission Tom and Daisy entered a debate about Benedict's sincerity or something like that.  They pretty much just enjoyed one upping each other at this point, all in good fun.  

"I should listen to you more often."  Ellie nudged his side.  

"Aye,"  He snickered.  "How about that?"  

"London was an excellent idea."  

"Then you'll love my idea for Christmas."  

"Oh?"  

"Scotland."  

"Really?  Jesus." He knew full well she hadn't ever been and was always game for travel.  She almost fainted dead away when he surprised her with this long weekend in the city and separate hotel rooms for the children and themselves.    

"My aunt just passed away and left me a cottage in the country side.  It's fairly beautiful but not entirely isolated."

"Alec Hardy..."  

"Might as well take advantage of the exceptional timing.  I've got one cousin left that might try to ruin it but I figure you could handle her." She raised an eyebrow.

"Always something new with you."  She was blinking away those token tears though.  Points for Hardy.  Fred crawled up into their laps, bored of the back and forth of his brother and Daisy.  

"You're Beatrice Mum."  He surmised before putting his thumb in his mouth.  He was in the habit of assigning everyone character in the movies they watched.  This one just happened to match.  Alec pulled it away dutifully, smiling to himself and looking over at Ellie.  She wiped at her eyes.    

"Why thank you.  And what does that make Alec then?"  She played along.  

"Bendy-dick."  Ellie nearly spat her beer into Daisy's hair at his annunciation.       


	10. Shelter (again)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had ideas from the 3-parter I wrote called Shelter still buzzing in my head. A kind of/sort of deleted scene. You don't need to read it first.   
> Minor Social Justice rants and mature content. Apologies for anything too OOC.   
> As always I appreciate all your fresh ideas and kind words! xoxo

One of the things Alec adored about Ellie was her particular aversion to hosting dinner parties.  She felt obligated to make a big to-do about Christmas but the rest of the year was blessedly free of stiff socials and forced friendships.  They were busy enough.    

They weren't friendless by any means but the characters that did stop by for dinner or drinks on occasion were amusingly diverse.  Tonight was definitely his preferred company, Johanna and Alyssa Ridley.  Johanna had healed remarkably well from her attack in January.  In just four months she was walking about on a cane for the most part.  They were fresh married now, just about two weeks strong having just returned from a honeymoon holiday in Paris.  They had attended the ceremony.  Ellie still teared up every time it was brought up.  Though they were just 22 and 21 years old they were old souls with palpable maturity, wisdom, and devotion to each other.  Daisy adored them as well.  Alec idly hoped she would find mentors in them.    

It was chilly and drizzly but they were all just fine in the screened in porch of the Hardy-Miller home.  Johanna's little brother Daniel was indoors playing with Fred.  Tom was keeping an eye on them while the group outside indulged in some painful domesticity.  

Daisy was wrapped up in a quilt with a cup of tea between her knees, leaning casually on her father in the porch swing.  Alec had Ellie under his other arm and irish coffee in his hand.  Johanna was in the wicker chair and Alyssa sat at her feet, head leaning against her blanket covered knee.  They were splitting a thermos of cider spiked with something Johanna probably shouldn't be taking in large quantities with her medication.  

They had just finished chatting about their time in Paris.  They had come over to deliver a couple bottles of wine they had brought back just for the Hardy-Millers.  

"That sounds perfect."  Daisy hummed into her mug.  "-I can't believe your physiotherapist let you off the hook." 

"She bloody didn't."  Johanna groaned.  "She Skyped me every morning to talk me and Alyssa through the routines.  Can you believe that?"  

"Mood killer?"  Ellie teased.  

"She was lovely."  Alyssa looked up at her wife pointedly.  "You were the one trying to misplace the laptops."  

"All the walking did me good enough, I'm telling you." Johanna shrugged and flexed her legs.    

"A little man in the Louve followed us around in a wheelchair cause you walk funny."

"He was just waiting to see if we were going to kiss or not."  

"Gross."  Daisy snorted.  "Isn't Paris over that sort of thing yet?  More liberal?"

"Doesn't make 'em not pervy about it."  Alec shrugged.

"Preach."  Johanna nodded.  Ellie leaned her head on Alec's shoulder.  He kissed her hairline absently.    

"That's terrible though.  Every time you think there's some sort of societal move forward, somebody bloody blows it." She sighed.    

"We have a friend who's started making tee shirts..." Alyssa giggled, " _We're Here, we're Queer...and we're oh so tired_  ..."  They all started giggling.  

"Every time you two come round I learn something new."  

"How's that Mr. Hardy?"  

"Queer used to be a dirty swear back when we were growing up.  Is it embraced now?"  

"By a lot of us, yes."  Johanna smiled.  "I've never liked the micromanaged labeling system some poor folks discuss within the community.  Laundry lists of sexuality I tell you.  To each their own, but it's all fluid if you ask me.  Queer is easy.  Fun.  Throws is back at the assholes who think their heteronormativity is god-given superiority."  

"Speaking of assholes-" Alyssa straighter up.  "We only got the news yesterday about the full extent of the sentencing.  We came out here in the first place to thank you.  We owe you more than we..."  Johanna seized her wife's hand as she teared up.    

"Thirty years is hardly enough.  The other bastards only got ten."  Daisy sparked.  

"There was a good chance they were going to walk, love."  Ellie spoke up softly.  

"Really?  Bloody hell.  Did they think she did it to herself?"  

"They had half formed, semi-plausible alibis and a surprisingly nasty solicitor."  Alec bit his lip and nudged his daughter.  "We were a bit smarter though.  They'll never live normal lives.  Now with gang style assault charges on a minority citizen.  A particularly outstanding citizen at that.  They've all lost wives and custody of their children.  Some of them had decent jobs.  If they ever get out that's over with.  I doubt Langley will make it out after thirty years.  He's bang on fifty with a terrible liver."  

"If any of them do get out though, Johanna and Alyssa get a letter.  They can do what they please with that information."  Ellie added. Daisy frowned and relocated to wrap her arms around Alyssa.  

"Daisy-dear,"  Johanna laughed lightly, "One of these days we're just going to have to adopt you right up."  

"Dad can't be left alone with Fred yet so we'll have to wait a bit."

"Oi!" 

"Maybe you'll just have to settle with a girls trip this summer."  Alyssa winked.  

"Really?"  She nearly shrieked, smacking a hand over her mouth.  The girls shushed her as if it was a secret.  In the rest of their conversation it became evident that the Ridleys were definitely well adjusted into their new life, the last traces of terror flushed out by the natural joy of their existence together.  It was a familiar sensation to Alec Hardy, reminiscent of the slightly less physically turbulent journey to marrying the woman in his arms right now.      

Once the rain let up the girls left.  Alec helped Johanna back into their truck while Alyssa belted little Daniel into his car seat.  Daisy headed back inside after waving them off, taking Fred off Tom's hands for a bit.  Ellie had remained under two quilts on the porch swing.  Alec rejoined her, tugging back some of the covers and tucking her back under his arm.  She had topped off his coffee at some point.  

"Alec..."  She mumbled into the collar of his jumper.  He squeezed her more tightly to himself, pressing his heal into the deck and rocking the swing.    

"Mmmm?"  

"I think I'm rather lucky."  

"How so?"  

"Just am."  He sucked in a deep breath of cold country air.  Above average companions.  Decent booze.  Solid jobs.  Happy/Healthy family.  The dream really.  Becoming her friend had been the hard part.  The rest had been easy in comparison.  The initial marriage proposal had been a bit of a shock on both ends.  The acceptance that they were more than friends who kissed a lot among other things was a large lump to swallow but here they were, a world of a a difference away from those first few days...the evolution was damn near cinematic.  

"Aye," He agreed, pressing his lips to the top of her ear.  She looked up and met his eyes.  "Can't believe you're even real sometimes Ellie."  She blushed and dropped her gaze.  

"Try my best..."  Her weak attempt at brushing it off with humor still made him smile.  "Knob."  She rested her head on his chest.         


	11. Things the Kids Walked in On

"Hey," 

"Hi,"  It was early.  Alec was taking tea out on the front porch in his track pants and tee shirt still.  He had been gone when Ellie woke up.  She finished zipping up a hoodie before nudging up against his back, cheek pressed to his shoulder and arms around his waist.  He leaned in to her, enjoying her warmth.  

"You okay?"  She whispered.  Neither of them were fully awake yet.  

"M'okay," He ran his fingers over her arms.  

"Does your chest hurt?"  

"Nah, just a bit of a dream.  Don't remember it.  Just woke me up."  He turned in the embrace, leaning back on the railing.  She lined herself up against him, letting him support her full weight.  She pressed a kiss to the center of his chest before resting her cheek there.  She stole a sip of his tea.  He embraced her with one arm, forehead lowering to the top of her head.  They relished the quiet.  The slow wakeup.  

"Better,"  

"Better than ever," He lifted her chin to kiss her on his way back inside.     

"Hey Mum...oh...um...do you know where Fred's backpack is?"  Tom was half way out-half way in the screen door.    

"Did you check under his bed?"  She slipped away slowly to tend to her boys, holding on to his fingers until they went their separate ways.  

"Better than ever?"  Tom repeated upstairs.  

"Shut up."  Ellie whacked him with one of Fred's stuffed animals.   

 

~

 

She was tearing up over the first child support check.  It took two and half years but it came.  It was larger than expected and was addressed somewhat sarcastically to _Eleanor Ann Hardy_.  He tossed the envelope on the kitchen counter and grasped her wrists, lifting them till they were behind his neck and she took the hint.  

"It's okay Ellie." She held him so tightly his stomach flipped. 

"M'sorry."  

"Hush,"  His back started digging into the oven so he walked a few steps and gave her a lift, boosting her into a sitting position on the counter.  She didn't slack her grip any so he was standing between her knees, the height difference now equalized.  "Look at me...hey..." He touched her cheek.  "It's nothing.  Don't let him play with you like that.  You're better than that."  She looked as if she were about to say something when Fred came in with his blankie wrapped around himself, yawning off a nap.  

"Mumma why you crying?"  

"I was just a bit sad love."  She wiped her tears as Alec obliged in picking the boy up and putting him on her lap.  He still had a hand fisted in Alec's shirt as he wrapped an arm around his mother's neck.  

"Are you still sad Mumma?  You wanna have one of mah juicy-juices wif me?"

"Nah, I'm okay now.  Thank you though."  She sniffed.  Alec rubbed her back sympathetically.  She smiled at him over Fred.  

"Awec did you make Mumma sad?"  The adults cracked some smiles.    

"Not this time lad."  He narrowed his eyes and examined them both suspiciously for a minute.  

"Good.  Movie time."  He tugged on both their shirts till they complied.  

 

~  

 

Daisy plopped down on the couch in her Dad's office with Ellie, their shopping bags and Daisy's massive duffle bags scattered at their feet.  He shot them a smile in the midst of his phone call.  

"Bloody hell..." Alec muttered, "No not you Carrington."  He barked into the phone.  He finished up the call.  "Ready to go darlin?"  Daisy's holiday with them had come to close and she began a new school semester in three days.  

"Yah, let me use the bathroom first."  She slipped off and let them alone.  

"What time do you think you'll be back?"  

"Late.  Don't wait up."  

"One of these days you'll need to let her use the trains.  You're gonna drop dead on the roads."  He rolled his eyes, stood, and pulled her up with him.  

"It's not that bad and you know it.  And then I'm yours for the weekend."  

"Is that so?"

"I put us both off call since Tom n' Fred are gonna be out camping with the scouts..."

"Mmmm that's not suspicious." She giggled as he seized her hips, reeled her in, and pressed two kisses down her neck, beard making her spine curve towards him gladly.  "One of your better ideas I'll admit...Is that an order from the boss then?"  

"Yes it is Miller...Hardy..." He teased, moving to kiss her properly.

"That's Hardy-Miller..."

"Whatever,"   

"OI.  Jesus.  Five minutes I'm gone." Daisy pulled a face before smirking at them from the doorway.  

"Not sorry,"  He kissed Ellie on the forehead, cupping her face briefly.  "You ready yet?"  He pulled away entirely so Daisy could say goodbye to Ellie, throwing her arms around her neck and kissing her on the cheek.  

"Call me when you get there."  

"Yes ma'am.  Thank you for everything."  She gathered her things and headed out through the bullpen and to the car.  Alec kissed Ellie one more time.  She smiled into it.  

"I'll see you soon."

"Drive safe."  Ellie saw them off from the threshold of his office.  She locked up for him and flipped off the officers whistling and teasing her as she left.    

 

**Author's Note:**

> Drop some comments and help out a bored writer.


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